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HISTORICAL SKETCHES, 



AND 



LOCAL NAMES 



OF THE 



NIAGARA FRONTIER. 



CD.MI'LI.MENTS OF 

O. H. MARSHALL, 

No. TiM) Main Street, 

BUFFALO. 



THE 



NIAGARA FRONTIER. 



KMHRACINC 



SKETCHES OF ITS EARLY HISTORY, 



AND 



Indian, French and English Local Names. 



Read ijefohe the BrriALo Histoijkal Society, 

Fkbruary 27th, I860, 

Br ORSAMUS H. MARSHALL. 



Reprinted for prioate circulation from the Publications of the 
Buffalo Historical Society. 

1881. 



/. 



fl^l 



iw'ob:^' 



M(:pH3I4 



By Transfer 
MAR 18 1914 



THE 

NIAGARA FRONTIER, 



EMBRACING SKETCHES OF ITS EARLY HISTORY, AND INDIAN. FRENCH 
AND ENGLISH LOCAL NAMES. 



READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY, FEBKUAKV 27, lb 



BY ORSAMUS H. MARSHALL. 



James Cartier, while exploring the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 
1535, was informed by the savages, living on its borders, that 
a mighty river, which they called Hochelaga, flowed into the 
sea near by, from a vast distance in the interior.* Having dis- 
covered its mouth, he explored the stream as far as the site of 
the present City of Montreal. He inquired of the Indians 
whom he met on the way, touching the source of that great 
river and the country through which it flowed. He was told, 
that after ascending many leagues among rapids and water-falls, 
he would reach a lake, one hundred and fifty leagues long and 
forty or fifty broad, at the western extremity of which the 
waters were wholesome and the winters mild; that a river emp- 
tied into it from the south, which had its source in the country 
of the Iroquois; that beyond this lake he would find a cataract 
and portage; then another lake about equal to the former, 
which they had never explored; and, still further on, a sea, the 

* Lescarbot, p. ^ioo. 



4 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

western shores of which they had never seen, nor had they 
heard of any one who had.* 

This is the earliest historical notice of our great lake region. 

Cartier was followed, after along interval, by French traders, 
adventurers and missionaries; who, stimulated by love of ad- 
venture or the attractions of the fur trade, or inspired by re- 
ligious zeal, were the first to penetrate the Canadian wilderness, 
and encounter the privations and dangers incident to the ex- 
ploration of the vast interior of North America. 

Before the Pilgrims landed in New England, Champlain had 
wintered among the savages on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, 
and had crossed Lake Ontario with an expedition against the 
Iroquois in the central part of our State. f 

As one after another of the principal lakes and rivers of the 
New World were discovered, they were called in honor of some 
tutelary saint or patron, some king or noble. The early travel- 
ers not only rejected their aboriginal names, but, in many in- 
stances, failed even to mention them. The series of lakes on 
our northern border, were originally considered as expansions 
of one continuous river, called by the old geographers Saint 
Lawrence, in honor of the martyr, on the day of whose festival 
the noble gulf at its outlet was discovered. 

During the three centuries which have elapsed since that 
event took place, two distinct races have successively occupied 
and disappeared from this locality, now in the undisputed pos- 
session of a third. 

The traveler in the classic regions of the Old World, en- 
counters, at every step, venerable monuments and crumbling 
ruins; silent but eloquent memorials of those who have risen, 
flourished, and disappeared in the revolutions of time. The 
Indian, once lord of this New World, now a tenant at the will 
of the white man, was skilled in none but the rudest arts. He 
roamed, a child of nature, over the forest and prairie, absorbed 



*Lescarbot, p. 381. 

t Voyages de Champlain, Part i. p. 251. Edition of 1632. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 5 

in his ceaseless struggle for a precarious subsistence on the 
fruits of the chase. He built no monuments and has left no 
records, from which we may learn the story of his origin, his 
migrations, his bloody wars and fruitless conquests. The only 
light which shines upon his annals, is, at best, a dim and shadowy 
tradition. Scarce a memorial of his former occupancy remains, 
save the names he has bestowed upon the lakes, rivers, and 
prominent landmarks of the country. The Iroquois dialects 
still live in their melodious geographical terms, suggesting a 
sad contrast between their former proud and extensive domm- 
ion and their present feeble and reduced condition. 

There is no satisfactory evidence of the existence, in this 
vicinity, of a race preceding the Indians. The " mound-build- 
ers," that mysterious people who once spread in countless mul- 
titudes over the valleys of the Ohio, the Mississippi, and their 
tributaries, never, so far as diligent research has been able to 
discover, dwelt in this locality. The ancient fortifications, 
tumuli, and artificial structures that abound in Western New 
York, can all be referred to a later date and a more modern 
race. But at what precise period, and by what particular 
people they were constructed, are questions which have hitherto 
eluded the most diligent historical research. The Senecas are 
equally ignorant on this subject. The venerable Seneca White, 
a distinguished Iroquois chief residing on the Cattaraugus 
Reservation, now eighty-one years old,* expressed his curiosity 
on the subject, in a recent interview with the writer; and de- 
sired to know when, why and by whom those structures had 
been built. Many of them may yet be seen within a few miles 
of our city, and are certainly objects of historical interest and 
speculation. 

Omitting, therefore, from necessity, any notice of the race, 
of whom these remains are the only memorial, we find that the 
first in this locality, of whom, history makes mention, were the 



* He died since the above was written, on the nineteenth of May, 1873.— Ed. 



6 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

Attiouandaronk, or Neutral Nation, called Kah-kwas by the 
Senecas.* They had their council-fires along the Niagara, but 
principally on its western side. Their hunting-grounds ex- 
tended from the Genesee nearly to the eastern shores of Lake 
Huron, embracing a wide and important territory. In this re- 
gion, now teeming with Anglo-Saxon life, they reared their 
rude wigwams, pursued their game, and preserved a rigid and 
singular neutrality between the fierce tribes that waged their 
bloody wars on all sides around them. They are first men- 
tioned by Champlain during his winter visit to the Hurons in 
1615, before alluded to, but he was unable to visit their terri- 
tory. According to the early Jesuits, they excelled the Hurons 
in stature, strength, and symmetry, and wore their dress with a 
superior grace. They regarded their dead with peculiar ven- 
eration. Once in every ten years the survivors of each family 
gathered the remains of their deceased ancestors from the plat- 
forms on which they had been deposited, and buried them in 
heaps, with many superstitious ceremonies. This was called 
the " Feast of the Dead." Many of the mounds thus raised may 
still be seen in this vicinity. A conspicuous one on Tonawanda 
Island, is affirmed by the old Senecas to have had such an ori- 
gin. The land of the Neutral Nation is described by the Jesuits 
as producing an abundance of corn, beans, and other vegetables; 
their rivers as abounding in fish of endless variety, and their 
forests as filled vvith a profusion of game, yielding the richest furs. 
The peace which this peculiar people had so long main- 
tained with the Iroquois was destined to be broken. Some 
jealousies and collisions occurred in 1647, which culminated in 
open war in 1650. One of the villages of the Neutral Nation, 
nearest the Senecas and not far from the site of our city, was 



* It has been assumed by many writers that the Kah-kwas and Eries were identical. 
This is not so. The latter, according to the most reliable authorities, lived south of the 
western extremity of Lake Erie until they were destroyed by the Iroquois, in 1655. The 
Kah-kwas were exterminated by them as early as 1651. On Coronelli's map, published in 
1688, one of the villages of the latter, called " Kakouagoga, a destroyed nation^' is lo- 
cated at or near the site of Buffalo. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 7 

captured in the autumn of the latter year, and another the en- 
suing spring.* So well-directed and energetic were the blows 
of the Iroquois, that the total destruction of the Neutral Na- 
tion was speedily accomplished. All the old men and children, 
who were unable to follow their captors, were put to death; 
but the women were reserved to supply the waste occasioned 
by the war. The survivors were adopted by"their conquerors; 
and, as late as 1669, a small remnant was found by the Jesuit, 
Father Fremin, living within the limits of the present County 
of Ontario. 

Such were the predecessors of the Senecas. A little more 
than two centuries has elapsed since they lived and flourished 
in this locality, and no evidence of their occupancy now exists, 
save the rude mounds which mark their final resting-places. 
Scarce a trace of their language remains, and we know only 
that they spoke a dialect kindred to that of the Senecas. 
Blotted out from among the nations, they have left one con- 
spicuous and enduring memorial of their existence, in the 
name of the beautiful and noble river that divides their an- 
cient domain. f 

A long period intervened between the destruction of the 
Neutral Nation and the permanent occupation of their coun- 
try by the Senecas. For more than a century, this beautiful 
region was abandoned to the undisturbed dominion of nature, 
save when traversed by the warrior on his predatory errand, 
or the hunter in pursuit of game. A dense and unexplored 
wildernesss extended from the Genesee to the Niagara; with 
but here and there an interval, where the oak openings let in 
the sunlight, or the prairie lured the deer and the elk to crop 
its luxuriant herbage. 

The Senecas continued to live east of the Genesee, in four 
principal villages, until the year 1687, when the Marquis de 
Nonville, then Governor of Canada, invaded their country 



* Relation des Jesuites, 1651, p. 4. 

t See " Last of the Kah-Kwas," vol. i., p. 43. — Ed. 



8 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

with a powerful army; and, after defeating them near the site 
of Victor, in Ontario County, drove them from their burning 
villages and laid waste their territories.* The humbled Sen- 
ecas, influenced by superstition, never rebuilt a solitary cabin. 
Their abandoned homes long bore witness to that most disas- 
trous era in the history of the Confederacy. We next find 
them in scattered villages on the banks of their favorite Je- 
nis'-hi-yuh;f in the fertile valley of which they resumed the 
cultivation of the maize, and recovered, in some degree, their 
former power and influence. 

During the Revolutionary War they espoused the British 
cause. The atrocities they committed in their savage mode of 
warfare, culminated in 1778 in the memorable massacre at Wyo- 
ming; and induced General Washington, in imitation of De 
Nonville, to send an army for their chastisement. The fa- 
mous expedition under General Sullivan was organized for 
this purpose in 1779; which, penetrating the heart of the Sen- 
eca country, resulted, for the time being, in their overthrow 
and complete dispersion. The proud and formidable nation 
fled, panic-stricken, from their " pleasant valley," abandoned 
their villages, and sought British protection under the guns of 
Fort Niagara. They never, as a nation, resumed their ancient 
seats along the Genesee, but sought and found a new home on 
the secluded banks and among the basswood forests of the 
Do'-syo-wcf, or -Buffalo Creek, whence they had driven the 
Neutral Nation one hundred and thirty years before. 

I have thus, with as much brevity as the nature of my sub- 
ject would admit, noticed the aboriginal races that preceded 
us in the occupancy of this region. I consider this as an ap- 
propriate introduction to a historical sketch of the most prom- 
inent localities on the Niagara frontier, and of the various 
names by which they have been known. 



* N. V. Historical Collection, Second Series, vol. ii., p. 180. 

+ Or Genesee, signifying beaut i/ttl, pleasant valley. The key to the pronunciation of 
the Seneca names will be found in the Appendix. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 9 

On the sixth day of December, 1678, a brigantine of ten 
tons, doubled the point where Fort Niagara now stands, and 
anchored in the sheltered waters of the river.* It had been 
sent at that inclement season from Fort Frontenac, now Kings- 
ton, by the Sieur de la Salle, in prosecution of the bold enter- 
prises conceived by that intrepid discoverer, involving the ex- 
ploration of a vast and unknown country, in vessels built on 
the way. The crew consisted of sixteen persons, under the 
command of the Sieur de la Motte. '''' Tc Deuvi laudajiii/s!" 
arose from the deck of the vessel, as it entered the noble river. 
The strains of that ancient hymn of the church as they echoed 
from shore and forest, must have startled the watchful Senecas 
as they gazed upon their strange visitors. Never before had 
white man, so far as history tells us, ascended the river. On 
its borders, the roving Indian still contended for supremacy 
with the scarce wilder beasts of the forest. All was yet prim- 
itive and unexplored. . Dense woods overhung the banks, ex- 
cept at the site of the present fort, or at the Indian village op- 
posite, where a few temporary cabins sheltered some fish- 
ing-parties of the Senecas. The stream in which the French 
were now anchored, they called by its Indian name, Niagara. 
It is the oldest of all the local geographical terms which 
have come down to us from the aborigines. It was not at 
first thus written by the English; for with them it passed 
through almost every possible alphabetical variation before its 
present orthography was established.! \Ve find its germ in 
the On-gui-aah-ra of the Neutral Nation, as given by Father 
L'AUemant, in a letter dated in 1641, at the mission-station of 
Sainte Marie, on Lake Huron. In describing his visit to that 
people, he says: "From their first village, which is about forty 
leagues southerly from Sainte Marie, it is four days' travel in 
a southeasterly direction, to where the celebrated river of the 



* Hennepin, p. 74, Edition of ifgS. 

t 'I'hirtv-nine dilfcrc.t :nodes of spelling Niagara arc cnumciate I l)y 1).-. O' alla^h.u 
N. Y. Colonial Documents, Inde.\ Volume, p. 465. 



TO THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

Neutral Nation empties into Lake Ontario. On the west and 
not on the eastern side of said river, are the principal villages 
of that nation. There are three or four on the eastern side, 
extending from east to west toward the Eries or Cat Nation. 
This rivtr," he adds, "is that by which our great lake of the 
Hurons is discharged, after having emptied into Lake Erie, or 
Lake of tlie Cat Nation, and it takes the name of On-gui-aah- 
ra, until it empties into OiUario or St. Louis Lake."''' 

The name of tlic river next occurs on Sanson's map of Can- 
ada, i)ul)lislicd in Paris in 1656 where it is spelled "Ongiara." 
Its first a])pearance as Niagara, is on Coronelli's map, pub- 
lished in Paris in 16S8. From that time to the present, the 
French have lieen ((insistent in their orthography, the numer- 
ous variations alluded to, occurring only among English writers. 
The word was ])robably derived from the Mohawks, through 
whom the French had their first intercourse with the Loquois. 
The Mohawks i)ronounce it Nyah'-ga-ra//, with the primary 
accent on the first syllable, and the secondary on the last. 
Some controversy h.as existed concerning its significaticjn. It 
is probably the same both in the Neutral and Mohawk lan- 
guages, as they were kindred dialects of one generic tongue. 
The Mohawks affirm it to mean neck, in allusion to its connect- 
ing the two lakes. The corresponding Seneca name, Nya//- 
gaa./',f was always confined by the Iroquois to the section of 
the river below "the Falls, and to Lake Ontario. That portion 
of the river above, the Falls | being sometimes called Gai- 
gwaa7/-ge//,— one of their names for Lake Erie. 

The name Niagara was sometimes applied, by the early 
historians, not only to the river, but to a defensive work and 
grouj) of Indian cabins, which stood at or near the site of the 
present Village of I,ewiston. La Salle constructed, at this 
point, a cabin of palisades to serve as a magazine or storehouse. 



* Rel.-ilion, 1641. p. 71. 

ITIic si};iii1icatii)ii of this Senec.n word is lost. It is Ilrob.^bly derived from tne name con- 
fcir<;il liv tlic Neutral Nation. 

% N. Y. Colonial Documents, vcl. v., p. 800, and i.\., p. 999. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. n 

In order to allay the jealousies which the work excited among 
the Senecas, he sent an embassy to Tegarondies, the principal 
village of the confederacy, then located on what is now known 
as Boughton Hill, near Victor, in Ontario County. They 
reached it in five days, after a march in mid-winter of thirty- 
two leagues, on snowshoes, during which they subsisted only 
on parched corn. There they, found the Jesuits, Gamier and 
Raffeix, who had been resident missionaries since 1669. A 
council was held with the Senecas, and presents interchanged 
but without favorable result. The French retraced their steps 
to their camp on the river, worn out with the hardships of the 
way, and glad to exchange their meager diet for the delicious 
white-fish just then in season.''^' 

No regular defensive work was constructed in the vicinity, 
until the Marquis De Nonville, on his return from the expedi- 
tion before alluded to, fortified the tongue of land which lies 
between the lake and river, and thus founded the present 
fort. The French General describes the position as "the 
most beautiful, pleasing and advantageous on the whole lake." 
As early as 16S6, he had pro])osed to his Government to erect 
a stone structure at this point, sufficient for a garrison of five 
hundred men, but received no favorable response. Many dif- 
ficulties were encountered in the erection of the new fortress. 
As the place was barren of suitable wood, palisades were cut 
at a distance, floated to the adjacent beach, and drawn up, 
with great labor, to the top of the bank. The work was finally 
completed, and called, after its founder, Fort De Nonville. It 
subsequently appears on some of the maps as Fort Conty, after 
a prince of that name, who was a patron of Tonti, one of La 
Salle's companions; but Niagara soon became its exclusive and 
more appropriate designation. De Nonville left in the fort a 
garrison of one hundred men, who were compelled by sickness 
to abandon it the following season, after having partially de- 



* For a detailed account of this expedition, by the same author, see vol. i., p. 260.— Ei 



12 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

stroyed it. They left many of its buildings in a habitable 
condition, as may be learned from a curious inventory and 
statement drawn up at the time of the evacuation.* No meas- 
ures appear to have been taken for its reconstruction until 
1725; when, by consent of the Iroquois, it was commenced in 
stone, and finished the following year. The "old mess-house " 
is a relic of that year. 

The French having, through the influence of Joncaire, ob- 
tained the consent of the Senecas, rebuilt their store-house at 
Lewiston in 1719-20. It formed a block-house forty feet 
long, by thirty wide, enclosed with palisades, musket-proof, 
and pierced with port-holes. Around this nucleus gathered a 
cluster of ten Seneca cabins; and patches of corn, beans, 
squashes and melons were soon under cultivation. Father 
Charlevoix visited the spot in 1721, while on his extensive tour 
along the lakes; and has left cpiite an exaggerated description 
of the ridge at Lewiston, which he calls "a frightful mountain, 
that hides itself in the clouds, on which the Titans might at- 
temi)t to scale the heavens !"f 

The block-house must have soon fallen to decay, for we find 
Louis XV. proposing to rebuild it in 1727, J but the project 
was abandoned the next year. 

This locality was always considered an important point in 
the early history of the Niagara frontier. Here was the com- 
mencement of the Portage around the Falls, where all the 
goods in process of transportation between the lakes under- 
went transhipment. The traveled road pursued, as now, a 
zig-zag course up the mountain ridge; but the heavy goods were 
raised or lowered in a sliding car or cradle, moved on an in- 
clined plane by a windlass. The remains of the old tram-way 
were visible at a late period, and, possibly, may still be seen. 
The ascent of the ledge at this point was so difificult, that long 



* N. Y. Coloni.il Documents, vol. ix., p. 386. 

+ Charlfvoix's Joiirn.-il. vol. ii., p. 345. 

t N. V. Colonial Documents, vol. ix., p. 964. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 13 

before the railway was constructed, the Senecas call it Du//- 
y\\-\\di' '0\\, which signifies, literally, walking on all fours; 
in allusion to the postures assumed by the French and Indians 
while climbing the steep acclivity under their heavy burdens. 
Hennepin calls it "the three mountains," trois niontagnes* 
referring to the high river-bank and the two terraces above it, 
which form the mountain ridge. When Kalm arrived there in 
1750, he found one of the Joncaires still a resident. Over two 
hundred Senecas were then employed in carrying furs over the 
portage, at the rate of twenty pence a pack for the entire dis- 
tance. f There were three warehouses at the foot of the ridge 
in 1759, and one at its summit; all used for storing the goods 
in transitu. 

Opposite Fort Niagara, on the Canada side of the river, is 
Mississauga Point, so called after one of the Algonkin tribes 
that formerly resided in the vicinity. J The present Village of 
Niagara was known in 17S0, by the name of Butlersbury, after 
Colonel Butler, of Wyoming notoriety. § It was afterward 
called Newark, after the jilace of that name in New Jersey, 
and West Niagara and British Niagara. In 1 792, it became 
the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of Canada, and in 
the autumn of that year, the first session of the Parliament of 
the Upper Province was held there. It is an older settlement 
than any on the eastern side of the river, and boasted a 
weekly newspaper as early as 1793.II About one mile above 
Newark, a defensive work was built by the British, at the close 
of the last century, called Fort George. Between this and the 
river was a storehouse, bearing the high-sounding name of 
Navy Hall; and near the latter stood the residence of Lieuten- 
ant-Governor Simcoe. 



* Hennepin, p. 113. Edition 169S. 
t K.alm's letter in Annu.Tl Kegister, vol. ii., p. 3S9. 

X An Indian village existed here at the time 0/ La Salle's first visit in 1679. 
§ Gilbert's N.-^rrative, p. 52. Col. I'utler died in 1796. Merritt's MS. 
II Called the Upper Canada Gazette, or, American Oracle. The first number appeared 
April 18, 1793. 



14 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

Queenston, so called in honor of Queen Charlotte, had no 
earlier name, though the locality was frequently noticed by the 
first explorers. Hennepin speaks of it as " the great rock," la 
grosse roc/ie* referring to an immense mass, which, becoming 
detached from the brow of the mountain, had fallen into the 
river below. It is now plainly visible under the western end of 
the lower suspenson bridge. 

The Devil's Hole and the Whirlpool are not noticed by any of 
the early travelers. The former is more particularly celebrated 
as the scene of a well known bloody tragedv, in 1763. Its 
Seneca name, Dyus-d«'-nya//-g<;h, signifies, t/ie cleft rocks.\ 
The Bloody Run, which falls over the precipice at this point, 
derives its present name from the same tragic occurrence, 
though the Indians have no term to distinguish it from the 
Devil's Hole. Their name for the Whirlpool, Dyu-n^'-wa-da-se', 
means, literally, the currc/it i:;ocs 7-ouiid. 

It has already been stated, that the Indians, whom Cartier 
met in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1535, alluded, in their de- 
scription of the interior of the continent, to a "cataract and 
portage," at the western extremity of Lake Ontario. This is 
the first historical notice of Niagara Falls. Seventy-eight years 
afterward, Cham plain ])ublished an account of his voyages in 
Canada, illustrated by a map of the'countrv, on which the sev- 
eral lakes, as far west as Lake Huron, are laid down, though in 
very erroneous Sutline.J It distinctly shows the river Niagara, 
interrupted by a waterfall, and intersected by an elevation of 
land, answering to the mountain ridge at Lewiston. It con- 
tains no specific name for the cataract, but calls it saitt (feau, 
or loaterfall. Champlain describes it as "so very high that 
many kinds of fish are stunned in its descent!" 

The next notice of the cataract is by the Jesuit, Father 
Ragueneau, who, in a letter to the Superior of the Missions at 



* Hennepin, p. ii^, Edition i6l8. 

t The rivcr-b.mU li c/cyt by the action of the I'loody Run. 

% Edition of 1632. 



. THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 15 

Paris, dated in 1648, says, "North of the Eries is a great lake, 
about two hundred leagues in circumference, called Eri(f, 
formed by the discharge of the vicr-douce, or Lake Huron^ 
and which falls into a third lake, called Ontario, over a cataract 
of frightful height.""^' 

Hennepin is tiie first who published a detailed descrij^ion of 
this remarkable waterfall. He first saw it in the winter of 
1678-9, and accompanies his descri])tion by an engraved 
sketch, f evidently drawn from memory, as it embraces a bird's- 
eye view of the whole river, as far as Lake Erie, with the 
G''iffon in the distance. The two falls, with Goat Island be- 
tween, and Tabic Rock, are very well delineated, though the 
height is much exaggerated. A group of Frenchmen, viewing 
the cataract from the American side, are represented as slop- 
ping their ears to .shut out the deafening sound. 

No doubt the Falls were visited at an earler date by numer- 
ous traders and voyagcurs^, but no record of the fact exists. 
The Niagara was not a favorite route to the Far West, the Ot- 
tawa being shorter and safer for a canoe voyage; an easy 
portage connecting its head-waters with Lake Huron. The 
fatiguing transit around the Falls, and the hostility of the warlike 
Iroquois, were formidable obstacles to the more southern course. 

The Senecas call the cataract, Det-ga//-sk^;h-ses, signifying 
the place of the high fail. They never call it Niagara, nor 
by any similar term; neither does that word signify in their 
language thunder of lualcrs, as affirmed by Schoolcraft. I Such 
a meaning would be eminently poetic, but truth is of higher 
importance. 

The picturesque Islands which add so much to the beauty 
and unrivaled scenery of the Falls, must have challenged the 
admiration and stimulated the curiosity of the early visitor. 
Equally attractive at all seasons, whether arrayed in summer 



* Jesuit Relation. 164S, p. 46. 

+ Hennepin, p. 116, Kduion of 1C98. 

X Tour to the Lakes, p. 72. 



l6 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

verdure, autumnal tints or winter dress,* they reposed like 
fairy creations, amid the turmoil of the impetuous rapids, iso- 
lated and apparently secure from human intrusion or profana- 
tion. Traditions exist of early Indian visits to the larger one, 
which are confirmed by a deposit of human bones discovered 
near its head. The access was from the river above, through 
the still water between the divided currents. Judge Porter 
first landed there in iSo6, and found several dates carved on a 
beech, the earliest of which was 1769. He purchased the en- 
tire group from the State in 18 16, and during tlie following 
year, built the first bridge which connected them with the 
main land. Stedman had cleared a small field near the upper 
end of the largest, and colonized it with a few animals, includ- 
ing a venerable goat. The latter was the only survivor of the 
severe winter of 1779-80, in commemoration of which the 
island received its present name. The Boundary Commission- 
ers under the Treaty of Cihent, gave to it the more poetic title, 
Iris Island, but the earlier one was destined to prevail. 

[udge Porter was one of the earliest settlers at the Falls, 
having erected his first dwelling there in 1809-10. He fore- 
saw the unrivaled advantages of the position, and secured, at 
an early day, the fee of a large tract of land in the vicinity. In 
addition to his dwelling, he erected mills on the site where 
Lieutenant DePeyster built a saw-mill in 1767, and which 
Stedman subsequently occupied for the same purpose. He 
also constructed a rope-walk for the manufacture of rigging, 
for Porter, Barton I'v: Co.,f who were then the principal carriers 
over the portage, and owned or controlled nearly all the trad- 
ing vessels on the two lakes and river. All kinds of rigging, 
and cables of the largest size required, were here manufac- 
tured. Much of the hemp then used, was raised by the Wads- 



* Those who visit Niagar.i in summer only, see but half its beauties. In winter, the 
sprav, congealed by frost on every tree, bush and rock, glitters w ith diamond luster in the 
sunlight; while, in tlie gulf liclow. cones, pyramids and towers, immense stalactites, and 
frost-viork in every variety of form, are produced by the falling waters. 

t This well-known firm was composed of Augustus Porter, Peter B. Porter, Benjamin 
Barton and Joseph Annin. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 17 

worths on the Genesee flats. Such was the scarcity of men 
in the then new country, that tlie Judge was indebted to Captain 
Armistead of Fort Niagara, for a company of one hundred men, 
to assist him in raising the heavy frame of his mill. It proved 
to be expensive aid, for the soldiers stripi)ed his garden of all 
its fruit, then very fine and abundant. All his buildings, em- 
bracing dwelling, mills and rope-walk, shared in the general 
conflagration on the frontier, in 1813. 

The village on the American side of the Falls, has been known 
as Grand Niagara and Manchester, and is now incorporated 
under the name of Niagara Falls. 

Fort Schlosser was named after Captain Joseph Schlosser, 
a native of Germany, who served in the British army in the 
campaign against Fort Niagara in 1759.* Sir William Johnson 
found him at Schlosser in 1761. He must have remained until 
the autumn of 1763; for it is stated by Loskiel f and Heckewel- 
der, that he arrived at Philadelphia in January, 1764, having just 
returned from Niagara with a detachment from General Gage's 
army. Heckewelder pays a high tribute to his humanity and 
manly qualities. J 

The earlier names of the post were, Fort du Portage, Little 
Fort and Little Niagara.§ It was not built until 1750. In the 
summer of that year, the younger Chabert Joncaire, informed 
the Senecas that the French government intended to build a 
fort at the south end of the portage, above Niagara Falls. The 
project was carried into effect the same season, and we find 
that Joncaire Clauzonne, brother of (]habert, was appointed 
its commandant. I In 1755, it was called Fisher's Battery. |||| 
When Sir William Johnson invested Fort Niagara in 1759, Cha- 
bert Joncaire seems to have been in command at Fort Schlos- 
ser, his brother Clauzonne being then with him. On the 



* N. Y. Coloni:il Documents, vol. x, p. 731, n. 5. 

+ Loskiel'.s Missions, p. 222. 

% Heckcwelder's Narrative, p. 83. 

§ ^'. Y. Colonial Documents, vol. vii, p. 621. 

II Lewis Evans' map. 

III N. Y. Colonial Documents, vol. vi, p. 608, 706. 



1 8 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

fall of the former fortress, Fort Schlosser was burnt, and its 
garrison was withdrawn to the Chiijpewa River, on the oppo- 
site side. It must have been speedily rebuilt by the British, 
for we find CaptainSchlosser stationed there soon after in com- 
mand of a garrison. The fort then consisted of an enclosure 
of upright palisades, protecting a few store-houses and bar- 
racks. Alexander Henry, who visited it in 1764, calls it a 
"stockaded post."" The plough has obliterated all traces of 
its existence, save some inequalities in the surface where it 
stood, plainly visible from the neighboring railroad. The tall, 
antique chimney which rises from the adjacent buildings, is 
not, as generally supposed, a relic of the fort, but of barracks, 
constructed by the French, and destroyed by Joncaire, on his 
retreat in 1759. '^'''^ same chimney was subsequently used by 
the English wlien they re-established the post. The dwelling 
they erected was afterward occupied by Stedman, who was a 
contractor at the portage from 1760 until after the peace of 
17S3. He probably remained until after Fort Niagara was de- 
livered to tlie United States by the British authorities in 1796, 
when he removed to the Canadian side. He left his " improve- 
ments " in charge of a man known as Jesse Ware. They are 
described by a visitor at that early day, as consisting of seven- 
teen hundred acres, about one-tenth partially cleared, an in- 
different dwelling, a fine barn, saw-mill, and a well fenced 
apple orchard containing twelve hundred trees. f 

There appear to have been three brothers by the name of 
Stedman— John, Philip and William. The traveler Maude 
found John at Schlosser in iSoo. While master of the portage, 
he accompanied the wagons and their escort, at the time of 
the massacre at the Devil's Hole in September, 1763, before 
alluded to. It was a return train, embracing about ninety 
persons, under the command of Lieutenant Don Campbell of 
the Royal American Regiment, which had been transporting 



* Travels, p. 183. 

t Voyage par Hector St. John, vol. ii., p. 153. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 19 

supplies from Fort Niagara for the use of the garrison at De- 
troit. Only three persons escaped; — a drummer-boy, by the 
name of Matthews,* who lodged in a tree as he fell over the 
precipice; a wounded driver, who lay concealed in some ever- 
greens near by; and Stedman himself, who, being well 
mounted, forced his way through the Indians and fled amid 
a shower of bullets, to Fort Schlosser. Two companies of 
troops that were stationed at Lewiston, hearing the firing, 
hastened to their relief. The wily Senecas, anticipating the 
reinforcement, lay in ambush, and all but eight of the party 
fell by the rifle or tomahawk. The entire garrison of Fort 
Niagara were then dispatched to the scene, but arrived only to 
find the ghastly and mangled remains of their slaughtered 
comrades. The attack was made on the train while it was 
crossing the small bridge over Bloody Run, so called after the 
tragedy. 

The Seneca Sachem, John Blacksmith, informed the writer 
that the party which made the attack, were young warriors 
from the Genesee, who, instigated by the French traders, se- 
cretly organized the expedition under the leadership of Farm- 
er's Brother, without the knowledge of their chiefs. Eighty 
scalps, including those of six officers, were their bloody tro- 
phies. 

The Senecas, attributing the preservation of Stedman to 
some miraculous interposition, and believing that he wore a 
charmed life, conferred u])on him the name of GJ-n^zs-squa/', 
signifying sione giant. The story that they gave him all the 
land lying between the river and the line of his fliglit, em- 
bracing about five thousand acres, is undoubtedly a fiction. 
The pretended grant was the foundation of the "Stedman 
claim," which w^as subsequently urged upon the State authori- 
ties with much pertinacity. If really made, it seems never to 
have been ratified by the Senecas, for at a formal treaty made 



* Matthews died in Canad.i, near Niagara, in 1S21, aged 74. 



20 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

with them by Sir William Johnson at Johnson Hall, in April 
of the following year, signed by Farmer's Brother and Old 
Smoke, it was not only not alluded to; but on the contrary, a 
strip of land four miles wide on the east side of the river, 
commencing at Lake Ontario and extending southerly to Gill 
Creek, embracing the entire Stedman claim, was ceded in per- 
petuity to his Britanic Majesty.* Stedman petitioned the 
Legislature in 1800, to confirm the pretended grant, but with- 
out success. He recites in his memorial, that he took pos- 
session of the premises in 1760, and soon after met with a 
great loss from the Indians; that as a compensation therefor, 
the chiefs gave him a deed of the tract containing 4,983 acres, 
which he had continued to improve for forty years; that 
the deed had perished with the papers of Sir William Johnson, 
which had been buried in an iron chest at Johnson Hall. A 
bill passed the Assembly, giving him the land he had actually 
improved, but it failed in the Senate. The buildings on the 
premises had suffered much from decay as early as 1800, and 
the adjacent fort was in ruins. The old orchard was still pro- 
ductive, the overplus yield bringing five hundred dollars in a 
single season; but the boys crossing from the Canada side, 
plundered most of the fruit. f 

The Portage Road commenced at the Lewiston landing, and 
followed the river until it reached the small depression just 
north of the pfesent suspension bridge. Diverging from this, 
it intersected the river above the Falls, a short distance east 
of the Stedman house, and followed its bank for about forty 
rods to the fort above. Midway between the house and fort, 
were a dock, a warehouse, and a group of square-timbered, 
whitewashed log-cabins, used by the teamsters, boatmen and 
engagees connected with the portage. J 

About half a mile below the Stedman house, near the head 



* N. Y. Coloni.ll Documents, vol. vii, p. 621. 

t M.TiicJe's Ni.a<;ar.T, p. 146. 

X M.-iniiscript letter of Hon. A. S. Porter. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 21 

of the present hydraulic canal, is the old French Landing, 
where goods were transhipped when only canoes were used, 
and where the portage road terminated before Fort Schlosser 
was built. Along the road, between the fort and Lewiston, 
block houses were erected about twelve hundred yards apart, 
to protect the teams from disasters such as had occurred at the 
Devil's Hole. The remains of some of these were quite re- 
cently in existence. 

Judge Porter leased the Stedman farm from the State in 
1805, the agent, Ware, being still in possession. He was ejected 
with some difficulty. Legal steps were taken, but owing to the 
unsettled state of the country, and the difficulty of executing 
process in a region so remote from civilization, recourse was had 
to " Judge Lynch," before possession was finally obtained.* 
Judge Porter occupied the dwelling during the years 1806-7 
and 8, when he removed to the Falls. He was succeeded by 
Enos Houghton, one of the first pioneers on the Holland Pur- 
chase, who opened a tavern for the accommodation of early 
visitors to the Falls, and travelers en route for the great West. 
It became the headquarters in all that region, for military mus- 
ters, general trainings and Fourth of July celebrations. The 
buildings were destroyed by the British in December, 1813; 
but the old chimney was suffered to remain, conspicuous among 
the surrounding ruins, a weather beaten memorial of the ruth- 
less desolation of war. 

Gill Creek, so named from its diminutive size, and called 
also Cayuga Creek. f and Stedman's Creek, derives its only im- 
portance from being named as a boundary in some of the early 
Indian treaties. J 

Chippewa Creek, nearly opposite Fort Schlosser, is called 
by the Senecas, Jo'-no-dak, signifying shallozv water; prob- 
ably referring to an old fording-place at the mouth of the 



* Manuscript letter of Hon. A. S. Porter. 

+ Sav.irv s jcurn.Tl, p. 360. 

X Treaty at Canandaigua in 1794. 



2 2 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

creek. Pouchot, in his narrative of the siege of Fort Niagara, 
calls it Chenondac, cvidt^ntly the same name, and describes its 
banks as abounding in fine timber, suitable for ship-building.* 
It was named Chippewa, after the Oiibway — otherwise called 
Mississauga — Irtdians, who formerly lived on its banks. The 
Canadian Government by proclamation in 1792, gave it the 
name of Welland River, but it did not pass into general use. 
The earliest notice of the stream is found in the narrative of 
Father Hennepin, who, while seeking a site suitabl'e for build- 
ing the Griffon, encamped on its banks in the winter of 
1678-9. He says, "it runs from the west, and empties into 
the Niagara within a league above the great fall." He found 
the snow a foot deep, and was obliged to remove it before 
building his camp-fire. The narrative incidentally mentions 
the abundance of deer and wild turkeys that were found in the 
vicinity. f 

The Seneca name for Navy Island, Ga-^'-wa/^-go-waa//, sig- 
nifies The lug canoe island. This is in allusion to the ves- 
sels built there by the French at an early day, for use on 
the lakes. Hence the French name, Isle-la- Marine, and the 
English name. Navy Island. It contains about three hundred 
acres. A tradition still exists among the Scnecas that a brass 
cannon was mounted on one of the vessels. J It was there the 
French reinforcements arrived from Venango for the relief of 
Fort Niagara, during its siege by Sir William Johnson. The 
English built two vessels on the island, in 1764, one of which 
was accidentally burned there in 1767. The island has since 
become celebrated, as the rendezvous of the Patriot forces dur- 
ing the Canadian rebellion of 1838. 

Grand Island is called by the Senecas, Ga-we'-not, signifying 
The Great Island. It is mentioned by Hennepin, under its 



* Pouchot, vol. iii., p. 174. 
t Hennepin, p. 75, lulition of 169-?. 

% A brass six-poundcr was placed on one of the Rritish vessels in 1764. Governor Sim- 
coe's manuscript letter to Colonel England. 



TIJE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 23 

present name.* At its northern extremity, in a sheltered bay, 
the remains of two vessels may now be seen at low water, 
which, tradition says, belonged to the French, and were burnt 
at the time Fort Niagara capitulated, to prevent their falling 
into the hands of the English. This has given origin to the 
name, pjurnt Ship Bay. I have been unable, however, to find 
any historical verification of this tradition. Sir William John- 
son, while on his way west, in August, 1761, encamped for the 
night on the west side of this island, at the mouth of a creek 
now called Six Mile Creek, which he describes as a fine posi- 
tion, affording an eligible situation for a house, and a good har- 
bor for boats. He called it Point Pleasant, — a name, the origin 
of which certainly entitles it to perpetuation. The Baronet 
makes special mention of the fine oaks with which the island 
abounded.! 

Cayuga Creek was so named by the Senecas. In January, 
1679, La Salle and his companions constructed a dock at its 
mouth, and laid the keel of the Griffon, — the first vessel built 
on our western waters. The site chosen was just above the 
creek, close to the river bank. J 

In commemoration of the enterprise, the name of " La Salic " 
has been conferred upon the small village and post-oflice at 
this locality. The same site was selected by the United States 
Government about the year 1S04, for the construction of a 
small sloop of fifty tons burden, called the Niagara, which 
was used for conveying supplies to the western posts. The 
vessel was subsequently purchased by Porter, Barton &: Co., 
re-built at Black Rock, and named the Nancy, after the wife of 
the late Benjamin Barton, one of the partners. § While bearing 
the latter name she was commanded by Captain Richard O'Neil, 
and went out of commission just before the war of 1S12. 



* Hennepin, p. 49. F.dilion of 1C9G. 
+ Stone's Johnson, vol. ii.. p. 4;. 

* .'\ full account of the building of the Griffon^ by the same author, identifying the site 
will be found in volume i., page 253.— Ed. 

§ Mrs. U.-irton was usually called Naucy, but her baptismal name was Agnes. 



24 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

Tonawanda Creek was so called by the Senecas, after the 
rapids at their village a few miles above its mouth, the name 
Ta-n^'-wan-de// signifiying literally, a rough stream or cur- 
rent. The French called it, " La riviere aux bois blanc," or 
" white wood river." On the early maps it is called Maski- 
nongez, that being the Chippewa name for the muskelunge, a 
fish once abundant in the stream. 

The Senecas have a different name for Tonawanda Island. 
They call it Ni-ga'-we-na//-<z-ah, signifying The Small Jshmd. 
It contains less than one hundred acres. Its upper end having 
a fine elevation above the surface of the river, was an occa- 
sional camping ground of the Senecas, before their final settle- 
ment in this region. Philip Kenjockety (hereafter more par- 
ticularly noticed), claims to have been born there, while his 
father's family, then residing on the Genesee, were on one of 
their annual hunting expeditions. 

Two negro brothers lived at an early day, at the mouth of 
Cornelius Creek, just below Lower Black Rock. They were 
supposed to be runaway slaves. The elder was called by the 
Senecas, O-ga/t'-gwaa//, signifying Sun Fish, on account of 
a red spot in one of his eyes, resembling that in the eye of the 
fish. Hence they called the creek, O-ga/Z-gwaa/^'-geh, the 
residence of Sun Fish. He was shrewd and intelligent; be- 
came a trader in cattle with parties in Canada and at Fort 
Niagara; chose'a wife among the Seneca maidens, and acquired 
considerable property. The notorious Ebenezer Allen married 
one of his daughters, and added her to his extensive harem on 
the Genesee. The younger negro was called So-wak, or 
Duck. Both died more than half a century ago, leaving 
numerous descendants, some now living on the Tonawanda 
Reservation.* 

Kenjockety Creek was not so named by the Senecas. They 
called it Ga-noh'-gwa/n-geh, after a peculiar kind of wild grass, 



* Life of Mary Jemison, pp. 124-139. Turner's Phelps & Gorham's Purchase, p. 406. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 25 

that grew near ils borders. The name " Kenjockety," written 
in Seneca, Sg<^-dyijh'-gwa-dih, was given by the whites, after 
an Indian family they found living on its banks. Its literal 
signification is Beyond tlic multitude John Kenjockety, the" 
head of the family, was the son of a Kah-kwa, or Neutral Ivi- 
dian, whose father liad been taken prisoner by the Senecas in 
the war which resulted in the extermination of his people. 
This occurred at the capture of one of the Kah-kwa villages, 
located on a branch of Eighteen Mile Creek, near White's 
Corners in this county. His family wigwarns were on the 
north bank of Kenjockety Creek, a little east of the present 
Niagara Street. They obtained their water for doniestic use 
from the river, then fordable at low water to Squaw Island. 
The creek still retains among the whites the name ihcy first 
gave it — the Senecas adhering to the more ancient designation. 
The old chief must have been a man of more than ordinary 
consideration among his people. The Rev. Mr. Kirkland' 
mentions him in the journal of his tour to Buffalo Creek in 
1788. He writes his name " Skendyoughgwatti^" and styles 
him " the second man of influence and character among the 
Senecas at the Kuffaloe."* His name is appended to a letter 
addressed to Governor George Clinton in 17S9, remonstrating 
against some unauthorized sales of Indian lands. f The Hon. 
Augustus Porter, who surveyed the boundary line of the 
" Gore," between the Seneca Reservation and Lake Erie, 
stated to the writer that he was accompanied during the suc- 
vey " by an old Indian named Scaugh-juh-quatty," who had 
been appointed by the Senecas to act with Red Jacket for that 
purpose. They indicated the edge of the swamp as the line 
for Judge Porter to follow, by preceding him from tree to tree, 
thereby carefully excluding what is now called " the Tifft farm," 
and the remainder of the " Flats," as comparatively of no value. 
This will account for the zigzag course of the line in (juestion. 



* Kirkland's MS. Journal in N. Y. State Library, 
t Houj^U's Indian Treaties, vol, ii., p, 331. 



26 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

Kenjockety continued to reside on tlie creek, until about 
the commencement of the present century, cuhivating his 
corn-field on Squaw Island, and drawing abundant subsistence 
for himself and family from the river and the forest. The 
survey of the " Mile-strip " by the State authorities, and the 
arrival of the pioneers of Buffalo, disturbed his tranquil home, 
and compelled him to remove to the Reservation, where he 
finally settled on the bank of FJuffalo Creek, near the present 
iron bridge. Becoming dissipated in his old age, he perished 
miserably by the roadside, from the effects of into.xication, 
while on his way home from Buffalo in October, 1808. 

Squaw Island was called by the Senccas De-dyo'-we-no'-guh- 
d<?h, signifying a divided island, referring to its division by 
the marshy creek known as "Smuggler's Run."* It was pre- 
Si^nted by the Nation to Captain Parish, their favorite agent and 
interpreter, as an acknowledgment, says the record, of his 
many services in their behalf. The gift was ratified by the 
Legislature, in 181 6, though the Captain was required to pay 
ihe State at the rate of two dollars per acre before he obtained 
his patent. He sold the island to Henry F. Penfield, Esq., in 
1823. Captain Parish and his colleague. Captain Jones, had 
each previously obtained a donation of a mile square on the 
river, now known as the Jones and Parish Tracts, and lying 
within the present bounds of our city. The Legislature was 
induced to make this grant, by that touching and effective peti- 
tion dictated by Farmer's Brother, which has been so often 
cited as a specimen of Indian eloquence. f 

Bird Island was originally several feet above the river level; 
rocky at its lower end, and partially covered with tall trees. 
Corn was cultivated on its upper end by Kenjockety's father. 
The island has entirely disappeared, the rock which composed 
it having been used in the construction of the Black Rock pier. 



♦ Philip Kenjockety st:\ted to the writer th.nt he h.ns often passed through this creek io 
his canoe, cm his w.iy to Ciinad-i. 
t Copied in Turner's Holland Land Company Purchase, p. agi. 



THE NIAGARA J-A'OA' VIEA'. . 27 

Its Seneca name, Dyos-dJ-o-d^//, signifies Rocky Island. It 
was called " Bird Island " by the whites, because of tlie multi- 
tude of gulls and other aquatic birds that frequented it at cer- 
tain seasons.* 

Black Rock being a convenient crossing place on the Niagara, 
became an im])ortant locality at an early day. Its history has 
been fully illustrated in an able and interesting paper entitled 
"The Old Ferry," read before this Society by Charles D. Nor- 
ton, Esq.f Its Seneca name, Dyos-d;ii;//'-ga-e//, signifying- 
rocky bank, is a co'iipound word, embracing also the idea of a 
place where the lake rests upon or against a rocky bank. Its 
English name comes from the dark corniferous limestone which 
outcrops at this locality, and, underlying the bed of the river, 
composes the dangerous reef at the head of the rapids. 

Prior to the commencement of the present century, the usual 
route between Buffalo Creek and the Falls was on the Canada 
side, crossing at Black Rock. The Rev. Samuel Kirkland 
traveled it in 17SS, and the Duke of Liancourt in 1795. 

Fort Erie was originally built by Colonel Bradstrcet, as a' 
depot for provisions, while on his expedition against the West- 
ern Indians in the summer of 1764. It was located some dis- 
tance below the modern fort. The part facing the river was 
built of stone, surmounted by squared pickets. The rest was 
stockaded. Bradstreet states in a letter to General Amherst, 
still unpublished, J that "when he arrived at the locality he 
found no harbor. That vessels were compelled to lie at anchor 
in the open lake, exposed to every storm, and liable to be lost. 
In addition to this, they were obliged to send more than twenty 
miles for their loading; that on examining the north shore, he 
found a suitable place to secure the vessels by the help of a 
wharf just above the rapids." "A Post," he adds, "is now build- 
ing there, and all that can will be done toward finishing it this 



♦Campbell's Life of Clinton, p. 128, 

tSee vol. i., p. gt. Kii. 

X Bradstreet's Manuscripts, N. Y. State Librarj'. 



28 THE i\ J AGAR A FRONT I ER. 

season." He further says, tliat "to avoid giving offense to the 
Seneca savages, to whom tlie land belongs, I have desired Sir 
William Johnson to ask it of them, and they have granted it." 
This letter is dated August 4, 1764. The treaty between Sir 
William and the Senecas bears date two days after, at Fort 
Niagara, and cedes to His Majesty all the land, four miles wide, 
on each side of the river, between Fort Schlosser and the rapids 
of Lake Erie. Tlie islands in the river were excepted by the 
Indians, and bestowed upon Sir William " as a proof," says the 
record, "of their regard, and of their knowledge of the trouble 
he has had with them from time to time." Sir William ac- 
cepted the gift, but, like a good subject, humbly laid it as an 
offering at the feet of his sovereign.'^' 

The foundations of the present fort were laid in lygi.f It 
must have been a rude fortification, as originally constructed, 
for the Duke of Liancourt describes it in 1795, as a cluster of 
buildings surrounded with rough, crazy i)alisades, destitute of 
ramparts, covered ways, or earthworks. Outside of the fort 
were a few log houses for the shelter of the officers, soldiers 
and workmen. There was also a large government warehouse, 
with an overhanging story pierced with loop-holes for the use 
of musketry. J The stone portion, the ruins of which still re- 
main^ was Iniilt in i8o5, in the form of a quadrangle, and sub- 
sequently enlatged to more formidable dimensions. The In- 
dian name of the locality, Gai-gwaa//-ge/;, signifies The place 
of hats. Seneca tradition relates, as its origin, that in olden 
time, soon after the first visit of the white man, a battle oc- 
curred on the lake between a party of French in batteau.x and 
Indians in canoes. The latter were victorious, and the French 
boats were sunk and the crews drowned. Their hats floated 
ashore where the fort was subsequently built, and attracting 
the attention of the Indians from their novelty, they called 
the locality " The place of hats." 

*N. Y. Coloni.il Documents, vol. vii., p. 647. 
+ Indian State Papers, vol i., p. 160. 
% Voyage par Liancourt, vol. ii., p. 4. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 29 

In the summer of 16S7, the Baron La Hontan ascended, in 
his birchen canoe, the rapids of the Niagara into Lake Erie, 
on his way to the far West.* Appreciating with military eye 
this commanding locality, he recommended it to the French 
Government as suitable for a fort, and marked it " Fort Sup- 
pose " on the map which illustrates his journal. This is the 
earliest historical notice of the site of Buffalo. No attention 
appears to have been paid to the recommendation, and for 
more than a century it remained in undisturbed repose, its sol- 
itudes unbroken by the axe of the woodman, or the tread of 
advancing civilization. Voyageurs, traders and missionaries 
passed and re-passed on the river, but make no mention of 
even an Lidian encampment. Nor does Sir William Johnson, 
who ascended the outlet into the lake on his way west in Au- 
gust, and returned in October, ijOi.f 

It has already been mentioned that the Senecas fled to Fort 
Niagara in 1779 before the invading forces of General Sulli- 
van, and settled the following year on the bnnks of the Buffalo 
Creek. A single survivor of that fugitive band is now living 
on the Cattaraugus Reservation, in the person of the venerable 
Philip Kenjockety, a son of the John Kenjockety previously 
mentioned. When the writer saw him in June, 1864, he appeared 
strong and vigorous, being employed at the time in piling 
hemlock bark. His entire dress was a loose cotton shirt, and 
the customary Indian leggings. He presented a fine specimen 
of the native Indian of the old school, a class now almost ex- 
tinct. He claimed to be one hundred years old, and a little 
examination into his personal history furnished proof of his 
correctness. It appeared that he was about fifteen at the time 
of Sullivan's expedition, and resided at Nunda, on the Gene- 
see. He well remembered the flight of the Senecas on that 
occasion, when he drove a horse to Fort Niagara. The fugi- 
tives arrived there in the month of September, and remained 



* I^a Hontan, English edition, vol. i., p. 82. 

t Journal in Stone's Johnson, vol ii,, pp. 451 and 470. 



30 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

in its neighborhood and under its protection during the fol- 
lowing winter. The season was the most inclement known for 
many years; so much so that the river opposite tlie fort was 
frozen from the seventh of January until the following March,* 
and many of the Senecas perished from exposure and starva- 
tion before the ensuing spring. Brant made strenuous efforts 
during the winter to induce the Senecas to settle in Canada 
under the protection of the British Government. The Mo- 
hawks, and a few from the other tribes, yielded to his solicita- 
tions; but Kenjockety's father, who was intimately accpiainted 
with tlie su[)erior advantages of Western New York, success- 
fully opi)osed the Mohawk chieftain, and prevailed upon the 
remainder to settle in the region watered by the Buffalo, Cat- 
taraugus and Tonawanda creeks. 

While listening to the eventful narrative of the aged Seneca, 
the writer could scarcely realize that the man was still living, 
who not only resided in this locality at the first advent of the 
white man, but who came here, witli the Senecas themselves, 
to reap, by a permanent occupancy, the substantial fruits of 
their ancient conquests. f 

At the time of the arrival of the Senecas, the striking feature 
of this locality was the predominance of the linden or basswood 
over all the other trees of the forest. They fringed both bor- 
ders of the cre-ck, and si)read their broad foliage over its fertile 
bottoms. Seneca tradition tells us, that in the season when 
the tree was in flower, the hunting parties from the Genesee 
could hear, ere they reached the creek, the hum of the bee, as 
it gathered, in countless swarms, its winter stores from the 
abundant blossoms. Michaux, the French naturalist, who trav- 
eled through this region in 1807, states as a peculiarity of this 
locality, in his great work on the forest trees of America, that 
the basswood constituted two-thirds, and, in some localities, 



* Merritt's MS. 

t Kenjockcly ilicd April i, iS66, .igcd over one hundred years. — Ed. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 31 

the whole of the forest between Batavia and New Amsterdam.* 
Early settlers say, that the peninsula bounded by Main Street, 
Buffalo Creek and the canal, embracing what is now intersected 
by Prime, Lloyd and Hanover streets, was almost exclusively 
covered with this tree. It was occasionally found more than 
eighty feet high and four feet in diameter. Its giant trunks 
furnished, at that convenient locality, a light and soft wood 
from which to fashion the Indian canoe, and a bark easily con- 
verted into various utensils useful in savage life. 'I'his bark 
formed the exclusive covering of the temporary huts, erected 
for the shelter of the hunting and fishing parties that frequented 
this region. The Senecas, in conformity with their well-known 
custom, seized ui)on this marked peculiarity of the place, and 
called it Do'-syo-wJ, a name strikingly euphonious in their 
tongue, meaning, The place of hasswoods. 

The origin of the name, Buffalo, has already been so thor- 
oughly discussed in and out of this Society, that no attempt 
will be made to throw additional light upon the subject. The 
earliest occurrence of the name which I have been able to dis- 
cover, is on a manuscrij)t map in the British Museum, found 
in a collection called King George's Ma])s, formerly in his 
Majesty's library. It is dated in 1764, and embraces both 
banks of the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Black Rock. 
The American shore is represented as entirely unsettled, cov- 
ered with forest and bordered with sand hills. Buffalo Creek 
is laid down, bearing its j^resent name. Its next occurrence is 
in the narrative of the captivity and residence of the Gilbert 
family among the Senecas in 1780-S1, which was published in 
17S4. We next fmd it in the treaty of F'ort Stanwix before 
alluded to. The Rev. Mr. Kirkland, in his journal of a visit 
to the Senecas in i7SS,t sj^eaks of their "village on the Buffa- 
loe," and from that time the name appears to have passed into 



* Nortli American Sylva, vol. iii.. p. 131. 
+ MS. JDurnal in N. Y. State Library. 



32 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

general use. The Holland Company endeavored to supplant 
•it with the term " New Amsterdam," but our village fathers, 
with great good sense, rejected the subsiitute, together with 
the foreign names which the same Company had imposed upon 
our streets. 

The Senecas, with a few kindred Onondagas and Cayugas, 
on their arrival here, in 1780, established themselves on the 
banks of the Buffalo Creek. The former chose the south side, 
and the level bottoms beyond the present iron bridge, east of 
what is now known as "Martin's Corners." The Onondagas 
went higher up, as far as the elevated table land, near where 
the southern Ebenezer Village was subsequently located. The 
Cayugas settled north of the Onondagas, along that branch of 
the creek which bears their name. 

In these localities the tribes were found, when immigration 
reached them; and here they remained, dividing their time be- 
tween hunting, fishing and the cultivation of the soil, until the 
encroachments of the white man diminished their game, and 
created a demand for their lands too eager and powerful to be 
resisted. We have seen, within a few years, the last of the 
Senecas abandon their ancient seats, on the confines of our 
city, some to locate on the adjacent" Reservations, and others 
to seek "a wider hunting-ground" beyond the Mississippi. 

They left the. graves of their fathers in the possession of the 
white man, and how has he fulfilled the trust? A visit to their 
rude and neglected cemetery will furnish the answer. The 
grave in which Red Jacket was laid by his mourning people, is 
empty.* The headstone of the captive "White Woman," car- 
ried away by piecemeal, for relics, by the curious, no longer 
tells the simple story of her remarkable life. Pollard and 
Young King and White Seneca, and many others, whose names 
were once as household words among us, all rest in unmarked 
graves. They were the friends of the founders of our city, 



* Hi> rem.iins were stolen hy a Cliippewa. They were reccvcred by his family and re- 
moved tu the Cattaraugus Reservation. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. H 

when the Indians were strong and the white man weak. Those 
conditions are now reversed. Having crowded the living from 
their ancient scats and pleasant hunting-grounds, let us respect 
the graves and protect the ashes of their fathers. One of their 
eloquent chiefs, De-ji/Z-non-da-weh-hoh, The Pacificaior^ 
known to the whites as Dr. Peter Wilson,* has feelingly and re- 
proachfully told us that "the bones of his people lie in exile in 
their own country." ^V'ould it not be an appropriate work for 
this Society, to initiate measures for the permanent preserva- 
tion of their dead? The remains of such of their distinguished 
chiefs as can now be identified, should be removed, with the 
consent of their Nation, to our new cemetery. There, on the 
quiet banks of the Ga-no//-gwa//t-gch,f in the shadow of the 
native forest, beneath the old oaks, where, within the memory 
of the living, their council fires burned, and their war-whoop 
rang,| under the same protection that guards the white man's 
grave, they would rest in security, and the dust of our antag- 
onistic races commingle undisturbed. 



* He died in M.irch, 1872. — En. 

t The Seneca name of Kenjockety Creek. 

* Forest L.awn wx>; owned, during the War of i8i2, by Erastiis Granger, then U. S. In- 
dian Agent. His residence wan north of the tall poplars, not far from the Main Street en- 
trance to the cemetery. The oak grove near by, was used by the Senecas for their coun- 
cils at that period. 'I'hey were our faithful allies, and rendered us valuable assistance in 
the contest with Great Britain. 



34 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 



ilPPENDIX TO THE FOREGOING ARTICLE. 



The following list embraces many of the early names that have been ap- 
plied to some of our great lakes and rivers, and to a few prominent locali- 
ties along their borders. Several of inferior note, thougli of more local in- 
terest, are also given. The great diversity that has existed in the mode of 
spelling the geographical terms of the Iroquois, has given rise to much con- 
fusion and uncertainty. This has induced tlie writer to adopt, in reducing 
the Seneca names to Englisli orthography, the admirable system invented by 
the Rev. Asher Wright, of the Cattaraugus Mission. That able missionary 
has published in tJie Seneca language, which he speaks and writes fluently, 
several works of much interest to tlie pliilologist, tlie fruit of his many years 
of successful labor among that people. The acknowledgments of the writer 
are justly due to liim for liis assistance in determining the orthography and 
signification of many of the names that occur in these pages; also, to Dr. 
Peter Wilson, Nathaniel T. Strong* and Nicholson il. Parker, all highly 
intelligent and cultivated members of the Iroquois family. 

The following is sul)stantially the key to Mr. Wright's system. If the 
sounds of tlie letters and accents are strictly observed, a close approximation 
to the correct pronunciation will be readied: 

a sounded like a in fall. o sounded like o in note, 

d sounded like a in hat. u sounded like u in push. 

e sounded like c in they. " ai sounded like i in pine. 

i. sounded like e in bet. iu sounded like u in pure. 

i sounded like i in machine. ch always soft as in chin. 

Italic h sounded like the h in the interjection oh! when impatiently uttered; 
approaching the sound of k. though not quite reaching it. 
When h comes after t or s it is separately sounded. 
Italic a and o represent nasal sounds. 
There are no silent letters. 
A repeated vowel only lengthens the sound. 



• N. T. Strons; dietl January 4, 1S72; Dr. Wilson, in March of the same year, and Mr 
Wright, April 13, 1875.— Ed. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 35 



SENECA NAMES, WITH SIGNIFICATIONS. 



Ga/z-da/Z-geh. " Fishing-place with a scoop-haskct." Cayuga Creek, or 
north fork of Buffalo Creek. 

Ha//-(b'-neh. " The place of June berries." Seneca Creek, or south fork 
of Buffalo Creek. 

Ga-e-nt7-d(jh'-claa//. " Slate rock bottom." Cazenovia Creek, or south fork 
of BufTalo Creek. 

Tga-is'-da-ni-y<?nt. " The place of the suspended bell." The Seneca Mis- 
sion House. 

Tga/^-s£()h'-sa-dc//. " The place of the falls." Falls above Jack Berry- 
town. 

Jii^k'-do-waa/z'-geh. " The place of the crab-app'e." Cheektovvaga. 

De-as'-gwrt-Zz-da-ga'-neh. " The place of lamper eel." Lancaster village, 
after a person of that name who resided there. 

Ga-yrt//-gailwh'-d('h. The Indian name of Old Smoke, who lived and died" 
on the bank of .Smoke's Creek. He led the Senecas at Wyoming. The 
name is now also applied to Smoke's Creek, and signifies " The smoke has dis- 
appeared." 

De dyo'-de//-neh'-sak-d^. " A gravel bend." Lake shore above Smoke's 
Creek. 

J^-nya'-dih. " The other side of the flats." Tifft's farm. 

De-yeh'-ho-gX-da-ses. " The obliqu-: ford." The old ford at the pre- 
sent Iron Bridge. 

De-yoh'-ho-grf/z. " The forks of the river." Junction of the Cayuga and 
Cazenovia Creeks. 

Tga'-nMi-da-ga'-yos-hw/z. " The old village." The flats embracing Twitch- 
ell's farm. This is the site of the first village the Senecas built on Buffalo 
Creek. 

Ni-dyir?'-nya//-a'-ah. " Narroio point." Farmer's Brother's Point. 

Ga-nd/h'-ho/z-geh. " The place filled up." Long Point in Canada, and 
sometimes aj^plied to Erie. In allusion to the Indian tradition, that The 
Great Beaver built a dam across Lake Erie, of which Presque Isle and Long 
Point are the remains. 

Gah-g\vah-ge'-g<f-^7rt//. " The residence of the Kah-kwas." Eighteen Mile 
Creek. Sometimes called Gah-gwa/z'-gc/z. 



$6 THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 

Y(7-da'-nyuh-g\va/^'. " A Jishiivr./ylace with hook-and-line." Sandy town, 
the old name for the beach above lilack I\ock. 

Tga/i'-si-ya-de//. " I\t>/>e feny." Old ferry over Buffalo Creek. 

Tga-n<»h'-so-d£?/;. " 7Vte place of /loiisjs." Old village in the forks of 
Smoke's Creek. 

Dyo-ge'-o//-ja-e/^. " IVct »;rass" Red Bridge. 

Dyos'-ho/i. 'I The sulphur spring." Sulpluir Springs. 

De-dyo'-nrtr-\V(?'-h. " The i-ippk." Middle Ebenezer village. 

Dyo-nJ/Z-da-ee/^. '^ Hemlock clevalion." Upper Ebenezer village, form- 
erly Jack Berrytown. 

Tgrt-des'. ^' Long prnii ie." Meadows above Upper Ebenezer. 

On(?n'-da/i-ge'-ga/^-geh. " The place of the Ononclagas." West end of 
Lower Ebenezer. 

Sha-ga-n«//'-ga//-geh. " The place of the Stochl>riilgcs." East end of 
Lower Ebenezer. 

He-yc7nt-gat-lnvat'-ha//. " The picturesque location." Cazenovia Bluff, 
east of Lower Ebenezer. 

Dyo-e'-oh-gwes. " Tall grass or Jla':; island" Rattlesnake Island. 

Dyu'-ne-ga-nooh'. '^ Cold water." Cold Spring. 

G^z/idif'-ya-de//. " A f^lace of niisery." Williar.isville. In allusion to the 
open meadows at this place, which were very bleak in winter. Blachsmith 
says the name refers to the " open sky," where the path crossed the creek. 



EHRLY N.1ME3 HPPLIED TO THE GREAT L^itCES HND RIVERS AND TO 
SOME OF THE PROMINENT LOCSLITIES ON THEIR BORDERS. 



LAKE ONT.\RIO. 



Lac des Entouhonorons. Champlain, i. ed. 1632, p. 336. So called after 
a nation living south of the lake. 

St. Louis. Ciiamplain, ed. 1632. Rel., 1640-41, p. 49. 

Lac Des Iroquois. Relation des Jesuites, 1635, p. 121. 

La Mer Douce. " The Fresh Sea" Relation, 1639-40, p. 130. 

Ontario. "Beautiful Lake." Hennepin, p. 31. Relation, 1640-41, p. 49. 

Skanadario. "Beautiful Lake." Hennepin, p. 42. 

Cadarackui. Colden, xvi. 

Frontenac. Hennepin, p. 40. 



THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. 37 

LAKE ERIE. 

Erie. Relation; 1641, p. 71. 

Lac Du Chat. " Cat Lake." Sanson's Map of 1651. 
Lac De Conty. Coronelli's Map of i6S3. 
Oswego. N. Y. Colonial Documents v., p. 694. 

LAKE HURON. 

La Mer Douce. " The Firsh Sea." Champlain, appendix, p. 8. 

Attigouantan. Champlain i., p. 324. 

Karegnondi. Sanson's Map of 1657. 

Lac Des Ilurons. Relation, 1670-71, map. 

Lac D'Orleans. Coronelli's Map of 1688. 

Quatoghe. Colden, xvi. 

Caniatare. Colden, xvi. 

LAKE MICHIGAN. 

Lac Des Puants. Champlain, 1632. 

Lac Des Illinois. Relation, 1669-70. Marquette's Map, 1674. 

St. Joseph. Father Allouez in 1675. 

Dauphin. Coronelli's Map of 16S8. 

Michigonong. Hennepin, p. 53. 

LAKE SUPERIOR. 

Le Grand Lac. " The Great Lake." Champlain, 1632. 

Lac Supcricur. '■'Upper Lake." Relation, 1660, p. 9. 

Lac De Tracy. Relation, 1667, p. 4. 

Lac De Condc. Lc Clercq, p. 137. 

NIAGARA FALLS. 

Saut d'eau. " Waterfall." Champlain's Map, 1613. 
Onguiaahra. Relation, 1640-41, p. 65. Applied to river only, 
Ongiara. Sanson's Map of 1651. Ducreux, 1660. 
Ungliiara. Dancrofl's U. S., vol. iii, p. 12S. 
Och-ni-a-gara: Evans' Map, 1755. 
lagara. Coklen's Five Nations, appendix, p. 15. 
O-ni-a-ga-rah. Coklen's Five Nations, p. 79. 
O-ny-a-kar-rah. Macauley's N. Y., vol. ii, p. 177. 



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